Flax-machine.



K. WESSEL.

FLAX MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7, 1909. 1,085,31 O. Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

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UN 1E1) STATES FTQE.

KARL WESSEL, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

FLAX-MACHIN E.

Application filed August 7 [0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I. Kant. lVnssnL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flax-lllachines: and I do hereby declare the following to be a full. clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved machine adapted to reduce tlax straw to fibrous form; and to the above ends, the invention consists of the novel devices and combination of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claim.

The improved machine involves a multi plicity of pairs of cooperating corrugated crushing rollers, interposed toothed hackle rollers, toothed picking drum and cooperating parts arranged to successively reduce to finer form the shive of brittle woody portions and to remove the same from the fiber, and throughout the process of treatment to comb and straighten out the fiber.

in the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indi "ate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved machine. with some parts broken away; Fig. 2 is a right side elevation of the machine, will some parts broken away; Fig. is a diagrammatic section taken longitudina ly through the machine, and Fig. at is an enlarged section taken approximately on the line a -r0 of Fig. 1.

The frame of the machine is made up chiefly of two upright laterally spaced bearing plates 1 rigidly tied together by various cross bars or rods not shown. it the receiving end of the machine is an approximately horizontal endless feed belt 2 that runs over guide rollers 1'3 and i mounted in suitable bearings in the said frame. To prevent slipping of the feed belt 2, it is preferably secured at its edges to sprocket chain and the rollers 3 and i are provided at their ends with sprockets 6 over which said sprocket chains run. These chains are arranged to run under angular guard plates "4', the down-turned portions of which, as shown, are secured to the side frames 1. Working immediately above the inner roller 4: is a gravity pressed feed roller 8, the trunnions 9 of which are loosely journaled in Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27, 191 1.

Serial No. 511,729.

open seats of bearings 10, rigidly secured to the side frames 1.

The flax straw is placed upon the feed belt 2 and by the same and the cooperating rollers at and S is fed to the front member of a pair of toothed hackle rollers 11. the shafts of which are journaled in suitable bearings in the side frames 1 and the teeth of which work immediately over concave plates 12 rigidly secured to the side frames. The adjacent edges of these plates 12 are spaced apart from an interposed roller 13 of small diameter mounted in suitable bearings in the side frames and provided with circumferential grooves that hold the flax against lateral spreading action while sub ject to the hackle rollers 11. This grooved roller 13 is located or extended upward as far as possible into the angle formed by the intersecting circuits of travel of the points of the teeth of the said two rollers 11. From the hackle rollers 11 the flax is delivered between a multiplicity of pairs of cooperating corrugated crushing rollers 14, the shafts of which are suitably journaled in the sideframes 1.

From the crushing rollers 11, the flax is delivered to a second pair of toothed hackle rollers 11, the shafts of which are journaled in suitable hearings in the side frames 1 and the teeth of which work immediately over the concave plates 12 and a transversely grooved interposed roller 13. The said parts ll, 12 and 13" correspond in construction to the above and more fully described parts 11, 12 and 13. From the hackle rollers 11, the flax is delivered successively to multiplicity of pairs of cooperating cor rugated crushing rollers 15. the shafts of which are journaled in suitable bearings in the side frames 1.

From the last pair of rollers 15 the flax is delivered to a toothed picking drum, or so-called picker 16, the shaft of which is jourualcd in suitable bearings in the side frames 1, and from this picker the treated [lax fiber adapted to be delivered onto a suitable table or into a suitable receptacle, not shown.

Power for driving the various running parts of the machine is delivered through a belt 17 arranged to run over a fixed pulley 18 or loose pulley 18 on the transverse counter shaft 19 mounted in suitable bearings in the side frames 1 and provided with a pulley 20 on the right hand side of the machine. A

belt 21 runs over the pulley and over a pulley 22 on the'shaft of the picker drum 16. The crushing rollers 1 1 and 15 are provided with shafts or trunnions that project alternately at opposite sides of the machine and are provided with bevel gears 14 and 15*, respectively, that mesh with bevel pinions 23 on longitudinally extended counter shafts 2i mounted in suitable bearings on the side frames 1. These counter shafts 24 are connected to the counter shaft 19 by miter gears 25 and spur gears 26. The lower spur gears 26 are connected one to each of the inner miter gears 25 by shafts 27 mounted in bearings 28 on the side frames 1. The rollers 11 and 18 are connected by spur gears 29 that inter-mesh and one of which is provided with a bevel gear 80 that meshes with a bevel pinion 31 on the left-hand counter shaft 24, see Fig. 1. In a similar manner, the rollers 11 and 13 are connected by three intermeshing spur gears 29, one of which is provided with a bevel gear 30 that meshes with a bevel pinion 31 on the right-hand counter shaft 2 1, see Fig. 1.

It is important to here note that the rollers S, 11, 1 1-, 11 and 15 are run at higher and higher speeds in a direction from the receiving toward the delivery end of the machine, and that the said rollers 1i and 15 having longitudinal corrugations made successively finer and finer in the same direction. This arrangement may, of course, be varied, but in the machine designed and put into actual use and found highly etficient for the purposes had in view, the arrangement was as follows: Rollers 4 and 8 were smooth and driven twenty-five revolutions per minute; hackle rollers 11 were driven thirty revolutions per minute; first two pairs of rollers 14- were driven approximately eighty revolutions per minute andprovided with eighteen corrugations; the second t vo pairs of rollers 14-. were driven at the same speed but provided with twenty-four corrugations; F

the second pair of hackle rollers 11 were driven ninety revolutions per minute; all of the rollers 15 were driven approximately 2:30 revolutions but were corrugated as fol lows: first two pairs, thirty-two corrugations, second two pairs fort-y corrugations, third two pairs, forty-eight corrugations, fourth two pairs fifty-eight corrugations, fifth two pairs sixty-eight corrugations and last two pairs eightytwo corrugations. The picking drum 16 was driven approximately 600 revolutions per minute. The roller i has a gear 1 meshing with one of the rollers 29.

iiith the above described arrangement,

1 l l l l l l the shive or brittle woody portion of the flax straw will be reduced to finer and finer form as it is passed through the machine and as it is broken from the fiber, it Will fall between the rollers. The hackle rollers 11 and 11 tend to comb out and straighten the straw and to loosen up the broken shive, portions of which will also fall through the opening left between the grooved roller 13 and the concave plates 12. The accelerated travel given to the stock as it passes from one set of rollers to the other has the effect of stretching and straightening the same in a direction longitudinally of the machine. This stretching not only s raightens the fiber, but it assists in loosening the shive from the fiber after it has been finally broken. The stretching of the fiber seems to assist in tearing loose the shive and in removing the same from the fiber. The stretching of the fiber and the reduction of the shive is progressive and so gradual that it does not break or damage the fiber. The fiber delivered by the picker will be clean or free from shive and in straight or untangled condition.

The corrugations of the rollers 15 not only increase in number and fineness from the receiving toward the delivery end of the machine, but they decrease in depth. This arrangement is important, because with the rollers 15 of the same diameter and driven at the same speed, the decreasing depth in the corrugations of the rollers gradually relieves the flax fiber of the strain as it aparoaches the picking drum 16, and thus prevents breaking of the fiber after it has been reduced and cleared of the shive.

In actual practice, the machine has been found not only eflicient in the character of its work, but has been also found to have high capacity as to quantity of work turned out.

YVhat I claim is:

In a machine such described, the com bination of a feed device, hackle rollers to which the flax is delivered by said feed device, a plurality of pairs of crushing rollers arranged beyond the said hackle rollers to crush the flax treated by the latter, and a second set of hackle rollers arranged beyond said crushing rollers to straighten out the flax crushed thereby and to prepare it for further treatment.

Tn testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

KARL VVESSEL.

Witnesses HARRY D. KILGORE, F. D. MEaoHAN'r.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, I}. C. r 

